DEPARTMENT OF LANDS AND FORESTS FOR 1930 



141 



Ribes Eradication. 



With further reference to ribes eradication, we are pleased to report that 

 it is annually becoming more difificult to find wild currant and gooseberry bushes, 

 indicating that their extermination in this vicinity is gaining certainty. 



Ninety per cent, of the native sweet chestnut (Castanea dentata) are 

 blighted. About half the trees are already dead and the remaining stems rapidly 

 dying. Even one-year-old coppice is suffering from the same malady. A few 

 trees appear to be resisting the blight, giving a faint ray of hope that the species 

 will not be exterminated. Utilization of standing chestnut not too far gone is 

 being advised. 



(5) Woodlot Improvement 



Plantation thinnings were heavy. Severe storm injury necessitated the 

 removal of broken, bent or otherwise damaged trees in practically every 

 plantation of fifteen or more years of age. Fortunately the younger trees suffered 

 very little. As far as was practical all of the produce resulting from these 

 enforced thinnings was utilized either for fuel, stakes or posts. The following 

 record is submitted to indicate yield accruing from the above mentioned thinnings. 



YIELD FROM PLANTATION THINNINGS, 1930 

 Scotch and Jack Pine 



An extensive area of our natural woodland at both Stations Nos. 1 and 2 

 was cleaned up. Broken-down trees, as well as ill-formed specimens, and others 

 revealing disease, were cut down and converted into lumber and fuel-wood. A 

 total of one hundred and four acres were thus subjected to woodlot improvement. 



The yield in fuel from such woodlot improvement was 1,351 cords. 



One fortunate condition arriving from storm damage is prominent in that, 

 by the operation of cleaning up the area in question, an equal acreage has been 

 made available for the planting of trees of superior species and, in the long run, 

 a much more valuable stand of timber than nature provided will be developed. 



(6) Publicity 



During 1930 the Norfolk Forest Station was the mecca of tourists, exceeding 

 all previous years. The fame of reforestation, as carried on in Ontario, is being 

 broadcast far and wide. American visitors of other years are coming back and 

 bringing their friends who are amazed at the advanced status of forestry in 

 Ontario. All visitors are supplied with experienced guides who are prepared to 

 explain operations in detail, and make the tour one of educational value rather 

 than just a matter of sight-seeing. 



Arrangements have, moreover, been made to have interested parties taken 

 care of at Station No. 1 where reclamation, planting, experimental plantations 

 and nursery activities offer an entertaining inspection. 



